COPS DOUBT TORONTO ATTACK ISIS TIE
Claim no evidence to link shooting
Toronto police say they have “no evidence” that the gunman behind Sunday’s deadly shooting rampage in Toronto was connected to the Islamic State extremist militia after the group claimed responsibility for the attack yesterday.
A statement released by the group’s semiofficial Amaq news agency, claims that Faisal Hussain, 29, who killed two people and injured 13 others before apparently turning the gun on himself, “was a soldier of the Islamic State.”
The statement says the Sunday evening attack in Toronto’s Greektown neighborhood had been carried out in response to Islamic State’s call on its followers to target citizens of countries participating in a U.S.-led alliance fighting the radical militia. Amaq did not name the assailant.
“At this stage, we have no evidence to support these claims,” Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said in an emailed statement.
Police continue to explore every investigative avenue including inter-
viewing those who knew Hussain, reviewing his online activity, and looking into his experiences with mental health, Saunders added.
Toronto police searched Hussain’s apartment in the Thorncliffe Park neighborhood Monday afternoon, but have been mum about a possible motive for the shooting. Hussain has no criminal court files associated with his name. Nor was he on any federal watch lists associated with national security, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters.
Hussain’s parents said their son struggled with psychosis and depression.
Police are also trying to figure out how Hussain managed to get his hands on the handgun he used to kill 18-year-old Reese Fallon and 10-year-old Julianna Kozis, as well as injure 13 others.
As is the case with most illegal handguns used on Toronto streets, police have traced the gun to the United States and U.S. authorities are helping to narrow down its origin, CBC News reported yesterday.
Police believe that Hussain’s older brother, Fahad Hussain, who has been in a coma since last summer after a drug overdose, may have been the source of the gun.
Fahad Hussain was known to police for his involvement with street gangs. Last September, while Fahad was already in a coma, fire crews responded to a carbon monoxide alarm at his residence in Pickering, Ontario. Police executed a search warrant, finding 33 guns and other prohibited weapons accessories, such as over-capacity magazines, and seized nearly 117 pounds of a substance identified as the deadly street drug carfentanil.